


When The Dust Settles

by panpipe



Category: All New All Different Avengers, Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Ultimates, Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Ultimateverse), Young Avengers
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Underage Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 03:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5075884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panpipe/pseuds/panpipe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course, Miles googled her once the dust had settled and Tony had offered to let him stay at Avengers Tower. Mockingly, Google suggested, "Did you mean: kate bishop?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	When The Dust Settles

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to have this out much closer to the All New, All Different Marvel announcement, but here we are, with the first of those titles having been released, and some of this fic already doesn't make sense (I think the Web Warriors are going to be in an alternate universe??? Who knows). Would the Spider-Ham even say "toots"? Ah, well.
> 
> Anyway. I love Kate and I love Miles, the end, please enjoy.

When the dust settles and the world isn't over, Kate goes back to her normal routine - that is, spending weekends and evenings at Clint's place and trying to save the world, one person at a time. She briefly considers opening a Heroes for Hire agency, but remembers how well that went the last time and thinks, _Fuck it, hell no._ She'll leave the cleanup to the superheroes who aren't immeasurable fuckups, which really should eliminate both her _and_ Clint.

Of course, Clint has been a full-fledged Avenger so many times, he gets the invitation to Avengers Tower only a few days after all is said and done. He avoids going until Tony Stark hacks Clint's computer to play "Work Bitch" every time he enters a room.

"Don't think I didn't notice that even after all that Battleworld bullshit, I'm still not invited to your fancypants Avengers meetings," Kate whines. She puts on her most petulant expression, the one that either works 100% on convincing Clint she should get her way, or 100% convinces him she's an immature brat who should be left behind. She's got a 50/50 chance here.

Clint sighs. "I thought you hated these things. Last time a meeting was called, I had to drag you into Maria Hill's office."

" _Last time_ we hadn't witnessed the end of the world as we knew it. I want to know what's up."

Clint throws his hands into the air, then waves at her half-heartedly, and she knows she has won this round.

Sure enough, a few hours later, two Hawkeyes show up to Avengers Tower. Tony Stark stares at Kate, sunglasses still covering her eyes. She blows a bubble from her chewing gum in his general direction and notices Clint rolling his eyes beside her. 

Whatever. Tony Stark is a jerk; she's allowed to be rude to him.

After a long moment, Tony sighs. "Come in. We've already got some children in here, what's another one?"

"Hey, I am not--" Kate begins, but is interrupted by Clint.

"Let it go, Katie-Kate. There's no sense in fighting that one." Clint claps her on the back, the way that both makes Kate feel like a child and a comrade. She's never sure if she enjoys that part of their relationship.

Kate is just opening her mouth to start a tirade against Stark's insufferable posturing when Clint interrupts and points at the far corner. "Ho-boy, he wasn't kidding about the kid thing though. Isn't that Ms. Marvel? And when did Nova get replaced by a child? Seriously, how old is that kid? He's tiny."

Kate looks over in the direction Clint is pointing, and notices three very small children.

Okay, they aren't _that_ small; Kate's just still smarting from Tony's snide remarks.

There's a Nova, and yes, he's impossibly short and is refusing to take his helmet off, as much as Ms. Marvel is yanking at it. Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, is clearly about sixteen or so, easy enough to tell as the only thing covering her face is a thin mask. Next to them are a handful of Spider-People, including a pig in a spider suit.

A pig in a spider suit?

The pig notices her staring. "Put yer eyes back in your sockets, toots!"

Kate recoils on instinct, then sticks her tongue out at him.

 _Yep,_ Kate thinks. _Tony Stark is right. You may be twenty-one years old, but you are a child._

Kate blames Clint for her bad behavior. Clearly prolonged exposure to the man-child has clouded her judgment.

They find a seat on the other side of the conference room, and Kate removes her sunglasses. Why does Tony insist on such ridiculous lighting? She can barely see a thing in here. That's one thing that S.H.I.E.L.D. does right. It has the most insane artificial lighting. Makes the place feel all official. This meeting room feels like somewhere Cassie would have held a dungeons and dragons meetup.

She glances back over at the spiders. There's an impossible amount of them. The Spider-Ham, who is still glaring at her, a handsome Indian boy in flowy spider-outfit, the Spider-Girl she recognizes, a hooded Spider-Girl she _doesn't_ recognize, a British Spider-Man (did he really need a flag on his suit?), and a smaller Spider-Man in a black and red suit. His size clearly identified him as the youngest of the group.

Kate nudges Clint with her elbow. "Is that black Spider-Man staring at me?"

Clint responds without even looking. "Kate, you can't just call him the black Spider-Man, thats off--"

Kate punches him in the shoulder. "He's literally wearing a black spider suit."

Clint looks in the direction Kate is pointing. "Oh. You're right." He pauses, then leans forward, as if it will help him see the Spiders better. "Is the black Spider-Man glaring at you?"

"Oh my god, you noticed too?"

"It's obvious. How is it so obvious he's glaring at you when his face is obscured by latex?"

"Are you sure it's latex? I always figured it was like, a spandex-cotton blend."

Clint thinks for a moment. "You're probably right. Why are we debating spider-suits?"

Kate looks around behind where the two of them are sitting. She doesn't bother answering his question, but instead asks, "How are you so sure he's glaring at _me_ , anyway? Iron Fist is behind us, and he's kind of a douchebag, right? Maybe he's glaring at Iron Fist."

Clint looks around too. "Nah, maybe it's Squirrel Girl. Maybe he hates squirrels. Or she whacked him in the face with her tail earlier. She did that to me, and it still hurts."

Kate ignores him and tries to pay attention to Tony, who has just decided to call the meeting to order.

The hairs on her arms rise. She looks back at the Spider-Group. "He's still glaring," she whispers in Clint's ear.

Clint shrugs. "Maybe he hates you."

"What?! I haven't done anything to him! Maybe he hates you. Everyone hates you. Maybe that other universe's Hawkeye was mean to him."

"Maybe the alternate version of _you_ as Hawkeye was mean to him."

"Uh, don't you remember the briefing S.H.I.E.L.D. sent you? There was only one Hawkeye in their world. Clearly I'm one of a kind." She fluffs her hair, preening.

Clint pokes her in the side, right where she hates being prodded the most, because of course he does. "Maybe he loved that universe's Hawkeye so much, he's mad that you've also taken the name Hawkeye."

She thinks on that for a second and nods. It seems the most logical answer. After all, when has Kate ever offended someone?

On second thought, no one answer that.

 

Blah blah, two or more worlds collided, only one survived, some people have lost friends and family, we must be considerate, blah blah here's a statue of that one Hawkeye dude we never knew but who was apparently well loved by his universe.

"That's bullshit," Clint announces, when they're back at the apartment. "I've died before. I didn't get a statue outside Avengers Tower!"

"To be fair, when you died, they were still using Avengers Mansion, right?"

"Katie, I never got a statue! Tony Stark barely knows that man, and he got a statue!"

Kate sighs. "I suspect it may be some sort of peace offering with those other universe people. You know, to make them think this world is worth saving. You're going to have to get over it, Clint. It's all political."

"No, I don't have to get over it. I'm never going back to Avengers Tower again. Not until they take that statue down and replace it with one of me."

"Clint. The two of you look nearly identical. Just pretend it's you."

"The statue says, 'loving father and husband', Kate."

"Okay, well, you were sort of one of those things."

Clint throws his hands in the air and looks at Lucky. "Do you see? Do you see the sort of abuse I have to deal with?"

 

It's weird being in New York after the end of the world. There are more missing posters than there were after 9/11, though that's probably due to the fact this time around there are potentially multiples of the same people. Not everyone seems to have made it from their home universe into that weird Battleworld, but even then, people hold out hope. It's depressing, really.

Kate is staring at one of those posters - a father, Jefferson Davis - when she feels the hairs on her arms raise. She looks beside her.

There's a black kid staring at her intently, can't be older than high school age. His hair is cropped short, and he's only an inch or two shorter than Kate.

She looks down at herself. Was she there something on her? She checks. Nothing. She looks back at the boy.

He's studying her face, his eyebrows knotted up and his eyes shuttered, revealing almost no emotion.

"Excuse me, is there something on my face?"

"You look familiar," he says simply, as if that explains everything.

Well, maybe it explains a little. "Uh, okay?" she responds, because how the hell is she supposed to respond? No one on the news has directly addressed the whole, multiple universe means multiple heroes means multiple people, so she's not sure if it's a good idea to bring that up. And maybe that's not even the reason he thinks she looks familiar. She thinks quickly. "Maybe you've seen my photo before?"

He shakes his head. "No, you look exactly like K--"

A round Asian boy of roughly the same age interrupts and calls, "Miles!" and the boy breaks off, turning to shush his friend. She waits for him to say something else.

When he does, it's not what she expected. "Do you have someone on this wall?"

She feels embarrassed. He says it with such emotion, a mixture of despair and hope, she knows before he tells her that someone on this wall is someone he loved. "No, I don't. It's just... sad. I got lost in thought."

He looks at his shoes when he responds. "He's my dad. The poster you're looking at."

She looks again at the man--the father, she corrects herself--Jefferson Davis. His eyes are weary, but even though the lines on his face seem to drag him down, his appearance is still immaculate. She looks at the boy beside her, and tries to imagine him with the same beard. Kate can see the resemblance.

"I'm sorry," she says, because she can't think of anything else to say.

He shrugs, and she notices he's clenching a backpack in his right hand. Definitely a high schooler. "It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. It's just..." He trails off. A few seconds pass, and then he laughs. "It's just funny you were looking at his poster. You're Katie, right?"

She feels the tension rise in her shoulders, feeling like a cat backed into a corner. She could understand him identifying her--he'd probably seen her in a magazine somewhere, at some sort of charity function--but how had he known to call her so familiarly, as Katie? "It's Kate," she says stiffly.

He lifts the backpack on his shoulders, gripping the straps tightly. He should have looked young in that position, and yet when she stared into his eyes, he seemed impossibly old, maybe older than herself. She wondered what he had seen. 

"Well, I've got to be off. I'm late for class. I'm Miles, by the way."

The Asian boy shouts again, and Miles turns over his shoulder to shout, "Just a minute!" He returns his gaze to Kate's, and his eyes are steady, his expression piercing, as if he was trying to reason out all of her secrets. "Well. I guess I'll see you around. Bye, Katie."

With that, he disappears out of sight, so quickly she can't even tell him that it's _Kate_ , not Katie.

"Well, that was weird," she says, chuckling lightly to herself, but feeling unsettled all the same.

She stares back at the man's poster, and for the briefest moment, she wishes it was her dad there, instead of a some father who had clearly been so loved.

 

"I'm telling you, Ganke, that's Katie Bishop. The Katie Bishop from _this_ world." His eyes are panicked, and his hands feel clammy. There had been so much happening during Battleworld that he hadn't had a single moment to deal with Katie's betrayal, and he had, in fact, hoped he would _never_ have to deal with it. That she simply wouldn't exist. After all, all signs pointed that Miles had never existed in this world. So maybe Katie hadn't either.

Of course, he'd googled her once the dust had settled and Tony had offered to let him stay at Avengers Tower. It had been weird, but fun, because Jessica Jones and Luke Cage and their daughter, Dani, had been staying there to keep the little girl safe. And Squirrel Girl had apparently been her babysitter once upon a time, so she kept coming back to check in on everybody. It had helped take his mind off the fact he had lost his father, _again_.

But it hadn't been enough to keep him from googling Katie Bishop.

Mockingly, Google had suggested, "Did you mean: **_kate_** bishop?"

So he'd looked.

It'd been like a smack in the face. 

She was so much like _his_ Katie, and yet so different. Her hair was rail thin and straight as a board, without a bit of the life that Katie's had held in it. He'd briefly wondered what it would be like to hold that hair in his hands, to run his fingers through it while they laid together on his bed in the Tower.

She dressed like any young adult would, in slouchy shirts and jeans, or sun dresses, or - and here he regretted on clicking the "images" tab - in couture dresses at movie premiers and opening nights on broadway, and charity events, and any myriad of things that Miles could never be a part of.

It had been like some weird, alternate universe rabbit hole that he fell into. Because he clicked on a photo, and then clicked on related photos, and then he noticed that in the past few years she'd had the same man on her arm at these events - an older gentleman with sandy brown hair and a near constant frown, like it pained him to be there.

Who looked suspiciously like Hawkeye.

Who Perez Hilton thought _was_ Hawkeye.

And for a fleeting moment, Miles had realized he might never truly be over Katie Bishop, because his first thought was, pityingly, "She's never going to love me."

It'd been too pathetic to bear, so he'd found an extension for Chrome that would block anything that said "Kate Bishop" and hoped he'd never convince himself it was safe to turn the filter off.

But that had been before the meeting in Avengers Tower.

He'd _thought_ it was her, but it was too strange to be true. His Katie Bishop? Hawkeye? More likely to be a Hydra sleeper cell than anything else.

But just then, this moment just now, looking at her up close - he knew it. It was Katie Bishop - the same girl in his Google image search and the same girl in Avengers Tower. Maybe not the love of his life or anything, but certainly the first girl to break his heart.

He'd tested the name on his lips again, unspoken since the world ended, and it had confirmed his fears. She'd reacted in confusion to the nickname, but confirmed she was Kate. He'd been right.

Ganke, however, remains unconvinced. "Dude, didn't you say the two Tony Starks were nearly identical? Her name is a random coincidence. Katherine and Bishop aren't exactly uncommon."

"I'm telling you, that's her. That's Katie. It's her, but older. Remember how the two Reed Richards ended up being different ages in each universe? Maybe it's something similar. There's just - there's just - " Miles takes a deep breath, and struggles to organize his thoughts. "Look, there's just something in her _eyes_ , okay? It's the same person at heart. I can feel it."

Ganke quirks one eyebrow. "I don't see how our Katie Bishop allows herself to be a pampered millionaire's daughter. It can't be her."

Miles shakes his head. "That's just it. She's _not_ just some pampered millionaire's daughter. She's gotta be Hawkeye too. I saw her at the Avengers meeting."

Ganke blanches, then swallows deeply, as if struggling to keep down bile. His mind is clearly racing, searching for the words.

"Miles, if she's allowed at Avengers meetings, I mean... do you think... do you think there's a litmus test for who's Hydra? Because, I don't know man, _what if_?"

For a brief moment, fear grips his heart. Maybe everything is happening all over again, and the people closest to him are going to be betrayed because he can't help being in love with the wrong girl.

But then, that fear is replaced with hope. "Ganke, what if she has more in common with Reed Richards than we thought? Maybe--maybe she's like, the good version of our Katie. Maybe--"

Ganke shakes his head. "Dude, you shouldn't go down that road again. I think we're all safer just avoiding her."

Miles wants to listen to Ganke. Really, he does.

But there's that saying, right? That stupid one. 

"The heart wants what the heart wants"? Something sentimental and frivolous, and he can't stop the compulsion to unblock his Chrome filters, trying to work up the nerve to talk to Tony Stark about this.

 

Kate likes to check in on Lucky every few days, mainly because sometimes Clint gets kidnapped and no one is there to feed him, or refill his water bowl, or take him for a walk. She's surprised to find that Clint is finally home when she arrives, nearly two weeks after the Statue Ceremony That Shall Not Be Named.

"Not kidnapped, then?"

"I was. I got out of it."

Clint is staring at the home phone, as if it grew legs and started walking around. Then he looks at Kate, and starts laughing uncontrollably.

"What is it? Do I have something on my face again?"

Clint shakes his head no, but continues laughing uproariously.

"Clint, not funny. What's going on?"

"Spider-Man wants to ask you out for a date."

" _What_?!"

"Oh, and it's not the normal Spider-Man. It's the black Spider-Man."

"The one that glared at me?"

"Yeah, he says you met on the bridge. With the posters. Miles?"

Kate flushes. Wait, that kid was Spider-Man? And why is she blushing? Kate supposes it's because she hasn't let herself even _consider_ a relationship since the disaster that was Marvel Boy, and she'd thought she was over the desire to have someone to kiss, to hold, to twine her fingers with while staring at the stars.

Ugh, it sounds so sentimental she wants to barf, but she can't help but admit that at the thought of having that person once more, her pulse quickens and her breath shortens. Was it finally time?

She hopes Clint doesn't notice how silly she feels, but of course he does.

"He was handsome then, huh? Tony wasn't sure if you'd want to go though. The kid's barely seventeen."

She feels her stomach drop, and this time she really does feel a bit of bile rise in her throat. He's too young.

Is it possible to expire of embarrassment? Because she might. Because her heart is still fluttering, even when she knows this kid is outside the realm of possibility. She can't let Clint know.

Kate adopts her most austere expression, the type she wears when acting as an official representative of Bishop Enterprises, and replies as blandly as possible. "Well, one date can't hurt, right? I'll let the kid down gently."

Clint shakes his head. "Katie, you've never once been gentle. Go easy on him."

 

They have dinner at an upscale sushi restaurant near Avengers Tower. She could have picked something that would make Miles more comfortable, something he could have afforded, but she needed to make sure he understood that the gap between them was too large to be overcome. At least not now.

She shakes her head. Why is she thinking "not now"? It's true that Miles is more engaging than she'd expected, that his vulnerability has softened something inside her, something that she hasn't felt since Marvel Boy crushed her heart by choosing his ex-girlfriend. She almost feels like something could bloom between them, but then he tells her about _his_ Katie.

The look in his eyes is so intense that Kate knows without him admitting it--that alternate version of herself had been his first love, and he's never had the chance to get over it. Kate clears her throat unconsciously, uncomfortable with the intensity of his feelings. He doesn't look at her quite the way he looks when he speaks of Katie, which is a small comfort, that maybe he recognizes that Katie and Kate are two different people, but even then it's still too similar. The hairs on her arms raise, the unease filtering slowly through her body.

"Miles," she says slowly, picking her words with care. "Why did you want to take me out on a date?"

He fumbles with the edges of his button-down before speaking. "I had to know if you were like her or not."

She sighs. "Am I?"

He looks up at her, his expression both scared and hopeful, all at once. "You're so different. Your hair, your expressions, your mannerisms--all of them add up to something unexpected. But you have her smile. And I can tell you're kind, but you're trying to hide it, the same way she did. You act tough, but you're really not."

No one had ever told her she wasn't tough. No one had ever dared. She'd been the leader of the Young Avengers as long as she could remember, rallying the troops and keeping everyone in line. Even in school, she'd been the ringleader of her group of friends, and when she'd spoken, everyone had listened. No one questioned her authority. Clint had tested her once, and ever since, never doubted her ability as a superhero and as a partner. He saw her as his equal, she knew.

Wasn't that toughness?

Didn't she sometimes get tired of being tough?

Miles can see her confusion. "I'm messing it all up. You're all of those things, and you're not those things. You--You're--I think we could do good together. Don't you feel it?"

Kate clears her throat. That's exactly the problem. She _does_ feel something, for this high schooler that's still hung up on his ex-girlfriend. How would she ever know if he saw her for herself, and not just as some surrogate for the love of his life?

She never finds time to answer, though, because an A.I.M. agent crashes through the windows of the restaurant. She glances at Miles, and he nods in return. She isn't sure how he'll manage to pull a spider-suit out of his wallet, but she knows his expression means he's ready to fight.

Is it weird that Kate surveyed the room looking for a weapon? Is it weird that she grabs the nearest standing lamp, unplugs it and unscrews the lightbulb and starts spinning said lamp threateningly in less than half a minute?

A lot of boys might think so, but coincidentally, a lot of boys are also superheroes. Miles is beside her almost instantly, in full spider-suit, and she can't help grinning. The adrenaline rush is familiar, and comforting, and helps ease some of the awkward tension between them.

She'd meant this date as a way to show Miles that there was no way there could be anything between them, but instead, A.I.M. seemed to conspire to show her just how _right_ things could be instead.

When was the last time fighting with someone other than Clint had felt so good?

 

Miles is grateful that Kate chose to wear flats tonight, because she's still a few inches taller than him without heels on. If she'd worn heels, he probably wouldn't have felt comfortable dragging her into the alley after the fight, pushing her against the wall, and kissing her senseless.

Well, attempting to kiss her senseless. He'd never really kissed Katie this forcefully. Their kisses had been sweet, and innocent, and playful, and sometimes Katie would push insistently at his mouth, but he'd never felt any need to rush things between them.

Miles isn't sure if it is the adrenaline from the fight, or the age difference, or his own insecurity because of said age difference, but this time it is _him_ pushing insistently at her lips, running his tongue against them, urging her mouth to open.

"We can't--" she begins, and he uses the opportunity to slide his tongue inside. He feels her slouch a few inches, just enough that they are the same height. He grips the back of her head, pulling her closer.

It's strange. Kissing Kate Bishop felt nothing like kissing Katie Bishop. He's not sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't this kind of fire.

It doesn't have anything to do with the difference in their hair textures, either. Yes, he notices that her hair is just as silky and smooth as he'd thought it would be from the photos, and his hands slide through her hair easily, not catching a single tangle, though he suspects he might be leaving a few in his wake. His other hand slips to her waist, and he leans into her, pushing her further against the wall.

What is it about Kate Bishop that makes him want to tear down her walls so forcefully?

Her poise, maybe. She'd spent the evening so calm, so icy. He couldn't find any of the warmth he'd seen in her interactions with Hawkeye, the playfulness that had made him think there might be a chance that this relationship could be his second chance at love.

Katie had been difficult to get to open up at first too. Maybe Kate just needed a push.

It seems he is right, because despite her initial protests, her hand comes to rest behind his neck, massaging the space behind his ear, and she kisses him back, meeting his lips as hungrily as he met hers.

Miles doesn't care if it's the adrenaline; he wants this moment to last forever. When he holds her, he doesn't remember that he's an orphan once more, that he's lost all that was familiar to him. She's a rock, securing him to this earth, giving him a reason to stay.

And then, abruptly, she pulls away, shoving against his shoulders and pushing them apart. Her face is flushed, and she looks lost, as if trying to find her balance again. "We can't do this, Miles."

He wants to scream in frustration, but he has to stay calm. She is mature. He can be too. " _Why_ can't we do this?"

"Miles, right now, you're just--you're just too young."

He grins wickedly. "Right now?"

Her eyes widen, and she mutters under her breath, " _Shit_."

Something she wouldn't want him to hear, but he's close enough that he can hear it anyway. He laughs. "That means I have a chance."

Kate looks exasperated. "You don't even _know_ me," she whispers.

He shakes his head. "But that's the thing. I _do_ know you. You're-- you're all the best of Katie, a lot of the worst, and yet so much more than all of that. I can see it. I want to know more. I want to know all your differences and similarities, until I don't compare you anymore. I--" He pauses, thinking. "I haven't felt as great as I have tonight the whole time I've been here, even with you being so distant and formal. It's not just the dinner. It's not just the team up, though that helps. Don't you feel it?"

He sees the hesitation in her stance, and knows she feels it too, even if she won't admit it.

He grins wildly. "I can be patient, Kate." It's strange, because until tonight, the word Katie had rolled so easily off his tongue he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to call her by her first name. But now the name Katie feels wrong on his lips, and Kate is the only name in his mind. "I'm pretty confident about this. Once you really get to know me, you'll see. We're going to be perfect together."

She punches his shoulder lightly, and laughs, easing some of the tension. "Big words. Fine. Prove yourself. But I'm not giving you any more opportunities like tonight, alright?"

He grins, sure he can easily convince her otherwise.

 

Kate spends the next week pointedly _not_ thinking about Spider-Man, and kisses, and A.I.M. agents, but when she gets a text inviting her for brunch near the High Line, she doesn't hesitate to accept.


End file.
